Houston Mayor John Whitmire acknowledged Saturday that the city is cooperating with federal immigration authorities after denying for months that Houston police would get involved with immigration enforcement.
Whitmire, speaking to a largely friendly audience of about 250 people, lauded Houston’s diversity and the contributions that immigrants bring to the city, but said that other cities were in “turmoil.” He said that some level of cooperation with the Trump administration was necessary to keep Houston from suffering the same fate.
“I’m not going to say that we’re not cooperating with ICE, because that’s frankly not true,” Whitmire said.
Whitmire then shared an anecdote about how an unnamed official recently urged him to try to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers out of Houston’s public spaces. The mayor said that he couldn’t do that, because the Trump administration would send 500 more officers in response.
Whitmire, however, has been vague about the city’s involvement in immigration enforcement when asked, saying that Houston does not “deal with immigration” but admitting that officers have an obligation to call agencies that issue warrants.
Let us be completely honest, Whitmire. HPD is doing much more than just reporting people with warrants. They are reporting people they believe are here illegally, whether or not they have a warrant.
Two hours before someone called 911 on three murders, think of that, John Whitmire.
Let us be honest, Mayor, it is you and your reputation that you are trying to protect. You don’t want the Democrats who voted for you to see your true character —one that may be slightly better than the orange buffoon who sits in the White House. When everything is said and done, Houston will still have hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants living in Houston. They will not step forward to report crimes. They will not step forward to help with investigations. Their doors will be closed to your police officers. Their doors will be closed when census takers come to knock. How many people will Houston lose on paper? How many crimes will go unsolved or unreported? Already, crime reports are down —not because there are more police on the streets, but because people are not reporting them: about 20,000 fewer reports from January to October 2025 than in 2024.